We all dared to dream Tiger Woods would come back as good as ever. But few believed. And then this year we saw signs of the old magic. But we also saw nerves and frailty. Then this weekend at the Tour Championship it all came together; the Tiger of old was back. And it was glorious!

What Woods did at East Lake defies numerical analysis. In recent months, he has shown the human capacity to change. To recover, to soldier on, to analyze. To improve. It should inspire any of us looking to do the same.

Ewan Murray as always is the go to man for brilliant golf writing in The Guardian.
Woods once famously remarked “Honey, this is what we do” to his wife, Elin, amid disappointment that the golfer wasn’t in the mood to properly celebrate a tournament success. For so long, this was what he did. And yet, as 2018 developed in golfing context, it was plain Woods still had the professional tools to win again. He had close shaves for a 15th major title at the Open and US PGA Championships. Sam Snead’s record of 82 PGA Tour wins has always been a more sizeable Woods goal than widely recognised and is now so tantalisingly within view.

In his piece Alan Shipnuck examines what is next for Tiger.
No middle-aged warrior putts as well as they did during their halcyon 20s, but Woods was brilliant on the greens at the Tour Championship. Suddenly the ascent up Mt. Nicklaus has begun again, though up next is Sam Snead and his Tour record 82 victories.

But Tiger turns 43 before this year is out. Can his reconstituted spine hold up to the rigors of the Tour grind? Will this divorced father of two continue to chase his former glory with the same single-mindedness now that he’s proven to himself (and everyone else) that he is still a winner? Those are questions for another day. Let the record show that Sept. 23, 2018, is when Eldrick Woods became Tiger once again.

“I knew I had to birdie one of the last two,” Rose said, “and I actually said to myself, I'm glad we're playing East Lake this way around, because if I had to birdie 17 or 18 the other way around, it would have been a pretty tough proposition.” (The nines had been switched since Woods first won the TOUR Championship at East Lake, in 2007.)

“So I knew that there were two birdie holes,” Rose continued. “The key was hitting the ball in the fairway at No. 17. I did that, hit a wedge right over the top of the pin. I thought that was going to actually be much tighter than it actually was. And a super quick putt, but I knew it wasn't a putt to try and race at that point because 18 is a par-5, it's a birdie hole. And I had to play the long game in my mind and just trust the fact that I could birdie 18 to win.”

One of the best Twitter videos of the day was Tiger arriving at East Lake in a muscle top carrying his famous Sunday red t-shirt.

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